07 STAB GIRLS LAX READY FOR BIG RUN
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The Window
Western baseball prepares to capitalize on a long term project. PAGE 13
VOL 6. ISSUE 15 :: APRIL 21, 2015
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ROUNDING IT OUT Goochland softball diversifies
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TICKING AWAY WAHS baseball’s core hones in
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THE USUAL SUSPECTS STAB girls lacrosse gears up for playoffs
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GAME TIME Albemarle lacrosse slips by Western
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TALK TOUGH? PUT THE JERSEY ON Respenting your team
vol 6. issue 15 :: april 21, 2015
The Window
Western baseball prepares to officially capitalize on long term project. page 13
VOL 6 . ISSUE 15 :: APRIL 21, 2015
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07 SainTS GirlS laX ready for BiG run
S TA F F Bart Isley, Creative Director Bob Isley, Infrastructure Director Ryan Yemen, Creative Editor O N T H E COV E R Western Albemarle’s Stevie Mangrum M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T Local sports are the lifeblood of every community in America, and we’re here to reach beyond the basics and give compelling accounts about Central Virginia athletes to our readers. CO N TAC T U S [ e ] info@scrimmageplay.com [ p ] 434-249-2032
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PREGAME
Battling for corners Fluvanna County’s Matt Rafaly and Monticello junior Mason Kayser chase a ball in the Mustangs’ end of the field. The Flucos, thanks to goals from Carter Allbaugh and Jameel Wilson took down Monticello 2-0. The Flucos sit at 6-2 on the year and the win over the Mustangs gives them their third straight as they look to keep pace with Albemarle, Western Albemarle and Charlottesville at the top of the Jefferson District standings. ✖ (Photo by Ashley Thornton)
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First Quarter
Rounding it out
Goochland softball adds to loaded arsenal By Ryan Yemen
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Goochland’s Jackie Tremain has plenty of help this years as the senior staff ace. (Ashley Thornton)
{ SUPPORT} Goochland’s runs for and runs against through its first seven games.
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or the last four years the Goochland softball team has been anchored by Jackie Tremain. Since 2012 the Bulldogs have been the predominant force in the James River District. And now it looks like the core and the future of program are blending in perfectly.
Perhaps no sport lends itself better to one player taking over a game than in softball and that’s been Tremain’s story thus far. But this year the senior ace has a lot more around her to make the job easier, both offensively, defensively and even in terms of help in the circle when it comes to innings pitched. Bulldogs have started out 7-0 and it would have been easy for them to simply lean on Tremaine’s pitching talent, but rather than tiring her out they’ve found themselves in a perfect scenario of developing talent while keeping the their keystone arm fresh by working in sophomore Kailyn Spencer. “I think this is awesome,” Tremain said. “I was telling coach (Amy Henneberger) earlier this year how great it is. She has great stuff up (in the zone) and throws really quick. I throw more stuff down with a little more side-toside movement. I think we mix that in well and it’s a really great difference.” Spencer and fellow sophomore Jordyn Laing have been the power behind Goochland’s batting order in the first half of the season with Laing knocking in five runs so far while Spencer has seven. Over the last three years not many in the James River District have been able to challenge the Bulldogs and so their out of distict schedule has been key in trying to prepare this squad for the postseason, particularly in a loaded Region 2A East bracket that includes an experienced and battle tested Madison County squad should the two line up — some-
thing that looks quite likely given the way both teams have started. So far Goochland has outscored its opponents 78-12 and only one game has been a win by less than seven runs, the Bulldogs 5-4 win over Central Lunenburg on the road. “This is very promising,” Tremain said. “The offensive effort has been great. I’ve been really impressed with the younger girls on this team because they have been really pulling through and impressed us seniors.” While the Bulldogs should be able to count on Tremain and Spencer to pitch quality innings, the noticeable difference right now is just how potent this team has been offensively as Goochland’s scored eight or more runs in all but one of its first seven games and won by 10 or more runs on four different occasions thus far. With a second half schedule that is highly favorable given previous results and the way Goochland is playing, it seems likely that the Bulldogs will head into Quad Rivers Conference play with a head of steam. That’s been the case before, but this time around, the Bulldogs look like they will head into the postseason fresh and well balanced in all three areas of the game as well. It will be interesting to see how Goochland approaches the playoffs, whether they stick with what’s working so far or if they decide to let Tremain take over. She’s done it before. And now with a truly full cupboard of talent behind her, the Bulldogs might have something brewing down the stretch. ✖
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College Update
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STAB and Woodberry alums making impact at UVa By Ryan Yemen When St. Anne’s-Belfield and Woodberry Forest meet on the lacrosse field it is an event. They are two of the area’s elite lacrosse programs and have been seemingly forever. And during their respective times at the two schools, Owen Van Arsdale and Carlson Milikin were both instrumental in keeping their programs at the top of the VISAA Division I mix. While their schools are rivals on the high school circuit, they are now teammates at Virginia. Van Arsdale is a redshirt senior for the Cavaliers. He played for a pair of state title teams at St. Anne’s in 2008 and 2009. After redshirting in 2011, he started all 14 regular season games for Virginia the following year and played in all 15 games as a sophomore the season after that. Last year as a junior he started all 16 games on attack and scored points in 14 of those games and led the Cavaliers with 27 assists. Now in his final stint with UVa, he’s taken another big step forward as he’s scored 23 goals and doled out 13 assists through 13 games. His shooting percentage of .411 is the best of all the Cavaliers attackmen.
A redshirt sophomore, Milikin has established himself this season at midfield. After graduating from Woodberry in 2012, he endured a bit of adversity as a freshman. The former Tiger received a medical redshirt after appearing in just one game. At the high school level Milikin was a two-way midfielder, but last year Milikin earned his way onto the field exclusively as a short stick defensive midfielder (SSDM) thanks in large part to his size at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds. He appeared in 12 of 16 games for Virginia and picked up seven ground balls while also forcing a turnover. He’s appeared in all 13 games this year and picked up his first goal against Georgetown on April 18. It’s not often that a Central Virginia athlete contributes to UVa’s vaunted lacrosse program, and it’s even rarer to have a pair of them from rival high schools. While they’re teammates now, the two will be able to relive their high school glory days when the Saints travel to play at Woodberry on May 1. And then it’s back to playing for the ninth-ranked Cavaliers who open up NCAA tournament play on May 9. ✖
BELOW » Former Saints standout Owen Van Arsdale is in his senior year with UVa and is one of the team’s leading scorers. (Danny Nickel/streakingthelawn.com)
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WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY are different in baseball than in any other sport. A dominant pitcher can only pitch but so many innings, and when it comes to the playoffs, a team’s most important player is taking at least every other game off or playing in a different spot. That’s the situation Western Albemarle purposely put itself in when it went in the Region 3A West playoffs last year with Jack Maynard, the 2014 Jefferson District Player of the Year, playing in the field against Blacksburg. The Warriors needed Maynard in the next round to try and qualify for the state tournament which a win in the Region semifinal would have guaranteed. It wasn’t that Western played poorly. Instead it was simply baseball, the Warriors hit everything right at Blacksburg. Maynard never got his chance to shine. He graduated and so one window for a program that’s been building to this point for years suddenly closed, abruptly at that. “That’s baseball,” said Western coach Skip Hudgins said. “It’s so hard at the (public) high school level to win a state title. I mean they play best of seven in the World Series for a reason. We don’t have that luxury in high school. You never know what’s going to happen.” What happened is Maynard left a massive void in the Warriors pitching staff, but the loss to Blacksburg did something important, albeit painful. If ever there was a senior class with the proper perspective coming into the year, Hudgins has it right now. In Stevie Mangrum, Josh Casteen and Dylan Weiss he has a trio of seniors that started as freshmen. In that core he has a group that had to go through a baptism by fire for two years before going into last year with a chance to make something big happen. These seniors know the count. “These guys came in still with that nasty taste in their mouth, that we have some unfinished business from last year to take care of,” Hudgins said. “That’s been their approach. We’ve gotten great leadership out of that from our core because of that. Everyone knows what’s expected of them.” www.scrimmageplay.com ::
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Below, Josh Casteen
“He throws a heavy ball and it’s got movement. He’s got a live arm and he wants to pitch.” — Hudgins 09 :: @scrimmageplay
These seniors know it’s now or never. And in what could only be described as a perfect irony, they are counting on underclassmen to help them give them the depth needed to make the run they wanted so badly last year but saw dissipate before anyone thought it would. Replacing an arm like Maynard’s, arguably the school’s most proficient pitcher ever, isn’t a one man job. But if it was, Casteen is the one inheriting the tall task of being the team’s number one starter. “I’m really not surprised by Josh because at the end of last year if you watched us practice you’d say ‘Okay, Jack is their number one but Josh is definitely in the mix,’” Hudgins said. “He really worked hard to get to this point and he’s done a great job for us. He throws a heavy ball and it’s got movement. He’s got a live arm and he wants to pitch. The want to is such a big part of pitching.” So far he’s pitched like the veteran he is. Through the Warriors’ first seven games he’s pitched 14 innings and not surrendered a run while striking out 11 batters and giving up just six hits along the way. The good news for Casteen is that it looks like the Warriors have found a bonafide second option with the emergence of Derek Domecq. The freshman started the year throwing out of the bullpen and through 11 and a third innings he gave up just one earned run while striking out 20 batters. In his first ever start, a road meeting with Fluvanna County, Domecq put together a complete game 1-hitter to lead Western to a 3-1 win. “He’s been really good for us and now we’ve got him worked up to a healthy pitch count where we feel comfortable using him as a starter,” Hudgins said. “He’s young but he’s really impressed us.” The Warriors can also lean on Sam Hearn who threw well for them last season. Thanks to all the simulated games Western puts together for practice, most of the roster spends time on the mound. As such a lot of players can eat up an inning or two here and there if Hudgins is looking to keep the pitch counts of his starters low — which will be a challenge with weather effecting the schedule dramatically early on in the season. “If you play for us, you don’t leave our practices saying ‘Well I didn’t get a chance to show that I could pitch,” Hudgins said. “We see everyone’s stuff.” Of course a lot of Western’s pitching success right now has been about its approach. Casteen and Domecq in particular are pumping pitches down the plate. “The one thing this staff has done a good of so far is counting on the defense,” Casteen said. “We have a strong defense, it’s been strong for a couple of years now. We aren’t the type of pitchers that over-power batters. So we’re just throwing strikes and letting our defense back us up. It’s worked out really well so far.” Combined they’ve thrown 66% of their pitches for strikes so far and that’s allowed Western’s veteran defense to make plays. In Weiss and Mangrum, Western has a left side of the infield that’s as experienced as it could possibly get, a duo of 4-year starters. Junior Chris Hughes has come along at second base and gelled nicely with Weis at shortstop. Hearn and fellow junior Henry Kreienbaum anchor the outfield both with
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WESTERN ALBEMARLE’S CAROLINE RIORDAN
Caroline Riordan puts in some serious time in the pool and on the soccer field. The Western Albemarle junior, who transferred in this year from the Lynchburg area, is a standout swimmer for the Warriors’ dynasty of a swim program and she’s emerged as a key part of the puzzle in spring for the Western girls’ soccer squad. “Caroline is one of the most positive and hardest working athletes I’ve ever had the privilege to coach,” said Western soccer coach Jacob Desch. “We have challenged her to play in positions she has never played before in her career and she accepts the challenge without complaining and always with a smile on her face.” For the Warriors’ swim team she placed 11th in the state in the 50-meter freestyle and swam a leg of the state title winning 200-free relay. Sporting a GPA north of a 4.0, Riordan is also putting in the time to achieve in a big way in the classroom while also balancing club soccer. That approach in all aspects of what she does has allowed Riordan to help set the tone for the Warriors in spring. “She has been a positive addition to our program and has already become an excellent leader for the team.”
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Below, Derek Domecq
“What we didn’t count on though is that the grades below us would step up the way they have.” — WeiSs 11 :: @scrimmageplay
excellent range and have been aided by another young talent in sophomore Sam James. “I think we’re lucky that all across the defense, we’ve got really good arms and really good speed,” Weis said. “Everyone has improved from last year. Just all around people have been doing a great job.” Seven different Warriors have perfect fielding percentages as of April 20. The bottom line is that Western has the defensive tools to allow its pitching staff to keep things simple and aggressive — all good things when it comes to keeping the inning and pitch counts low. However, while the pitching and defense so far this year are the feel good story for Western right now and really what any good team is built around, the bats for this team are giving their opponents fits. In Mangrum and Kreienbaum, the Warriors have arguably the most powerful 3-4 punch to any heart of the order in Central Virginia. Mangrum, who will play for Virginia Tech next spring, is hitting .444 and sports an OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging) of 1.544. Kreienbaum is hitting .526 and has his OPS at a staggering 1.836. What that means is these two aren’t just getting on base all the time — they are cranking out extra base hits. Together they have 21 of their team’s 45 RBI through seven games. Their success has meant that while the opposition doesn’t have to pitch to both of them, they do have to pitch to one of them or play with fire by putting them both on base. With Domecq hitting in front of them in the 2-spot and hitting .409 right now, Mangrum and Kreienbaum have been able to make the most of their opportunities. “If you don’t pitch to Stevie then you’ve probably got to pitch to Henry and he’s going to be a Division 1 player by the time he’s done here,” Hudgins said. “It’s a formidable crew we’ve got bunched up together.” With Weiss, Hearn, Casteen, Games, Steven Kuzjak and Ryan Sukovich among others all contributing offensively, the Warriors have outscored their opponents 55-14. It wasn’t until they played against Fluvanna and Powhatan that they had a team stay within closer than a four run differential. “It’s great knowing that our whole lineup get the job done,” Mangrum said. “You don’t want to put pressure on just one guy. We don’t have dead spots in the order. If come up in the bottom of the seventh and it’s the bottom of the order, I really do trust those guys will do the job.” So with the bulk of its regular season schedule — 12 games in 29 days if all goes according to plan — Western will look to fine tune things and head into the playoffs looking to take a step further than they did last year. With a senior core that’s anxious to go out with a bang and blossoming young talent making big strides already this spring, there’s little reason to doubt that this team is capable of making a big run. “We always kind of knew — even when we were all coming up together through middle school — that our junior and senior years, that we’d have a really good team,” Weiss said. “What we didn’t count on though is that the grades below us would step up the way they have.” The leadership is there, but this isn’t a club that yo-yo’s emotionally, a team that is really up when they’re up, and
sullen when they’re down. The leadership stems more from setting examples than simply firing up the troops verbally. “We talked about it before the season started, about wanting to lead by example,” Casteen said. “When you’ve got some guys that have never seen us play, never practiced with us, you want to go out and always be your best. That sets the tone for when it comes to the game. It gets everyone playing their best. It builds trust.” So with so much going right, things still looking so bright for this program, the question this spring is will the baseball god’s be kinder than they were the year before? Only three Jefferson District teams have qualified for the VHSL state tournament in the previous seven years — Orange County in 2009 and Powhatan and Monticello both in 2012. There have been a bevy of JD teams worthy getting that far but have seen their seasons come up just short. It’s what makes the sport so difficult. It’s what makes it so fascinating. In a one-and-done playoff format, you never know what might happen. With it’s previous playoff experience and the rest of this regular season, the Warriors are looking to make sure they are as prepared as they can be. You only get but so many chances. “It just shows that you have to take every game seriously,” Mangrum said. “Any team can beat any other team on any day. So we have to come ready for every inning, every pitch.” ✖
Above, Dylan Weiss
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here are thousands of ways for this thing to go wrong. Injuries. Bad breaks. Upsets. Bad chemistry. When a team enters a campaign that appears by all accounts to be a season that they were built for – a season they’ve built toward – the squad is walking on a knife’s edge. Any number of factors could easily tilt the scales either way. St. Anne’s-Belfield’s girls lacrosse team is in the midst of one of those years. Loaded with talent spread across the various classes, the Saints are fast and efficient. They’ve made huge strides in shoring up past weaknesses to become the most complete version of themselves they can be since this team’s core started to come together five years ago. They’re scary good and they’re relentless. They seem to have developed the capacity to keep the pedal mashed to the floor on both ends of the field, maintaining a high level of play from opening draw to the final buzzer. But talent, relentlessness and good health often aren’t nearly enough. Sometimes a team just flat out doesn’t like each other and that can derail, well, everything. Chemistry is nearly impossible to fake and it’s hard to manufacture. It isn’t an issue for the Saints. “We have so much fun going to practice on a Monday when no one wants to be playing because we’re like ‘oh, we get to go play with our best friends,’” said STAB senior Audrey Schreck. “We’re just all best friends, which is awesome.” In fact, little maneuvers intended to help foster team chemistry can fall a little flat with the Saints. “Whenever we do partner passing they’ll be like ‘get with someone you’re not best friends with’ and we’re like ‘wait, I mean, they’re all my best friends’,” said STAB junior Annie Cory.
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A LOT OF LACROSSE DEFENSE IS SLIDING AND HELP DEFENSE. THAT REALLY COMES FROM A LOT OF TEAM CHEMISTRY — EMILY CARDEN
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Even guarding each other in practice can apparently be trouble. “We’re such good friends that I’ll go up against Audrey and she’ll be guarding me and I just start laughing and I’ll be like ‘I have to give the ball up because you’re making me laugh’,” said Caroline DiGiacomo. It’s not just the Saints’ core group of players either that’s so tight-knit. It appears to be a top-to-bottom sort of unity as they’ve embraced young players and new additions along the way. When Sadie Bryant transferred in from Covenant two years ago, she knew several of the other players and quickly incorporated herself into the team. “I just learned from everyone and got to be a part of their family and this year is just building on everything,” Bryant said. “It’s just been great.” The Saints have put personal needs on the backburner in an effort to make the team better. Too often, in-fighting and ego can interfere with those team goals, and anyone who has played sports for an extended period of time have been a part of squads like that. But when there’s a mutual respect, a friendship in place, that doesn’t have to be a problem. “It makes it easier to push each other,” Cory said. “I know that I can push someone and they won’t be like ‘she doesn’t like me.’ With girls sports that’s such a big thing. (Usually) girls hate it when other girls tell them what to do.” Growing past that kind of mentality is what allows a perceived team weakness like the Saints’ defense to flourish. In the past couple of years, STAB has struggled to come up with key stops at key times, allowing some of the state’s elite teams to take advantage and pull away. That’s no longer the case as players like Emily Carden, Mailynn Steppe, Emma Colavincenzo and goalie Brittany Schoeb have all elevated their game. “A lot of lacrosse defense is sliding and help defense,” Carden, a captain, said. “That really comes from a lot of team chemistry. We’re basically the same defensive unit from last year since we only had one senior. Everyone knows how each other plays.” Carden, who’ll play at Washington and Lee next year, has emerged as a defensive stopper, capable of clamping down on the opposition’s top threat, which frees up the teams’ deep, talented group of midfielders to have a chance to mark other players and potentially create more turnovers. According to Carden, playing against the team’s elite group of midfielders is another major reason that the Saints’ defense has taken the next step. “Just being able to guard them has really helped,” Carden said. “When we are in practice we coach each other. If they get by me I’ll say ‘that was a great cut, but what could I do to guard you better?’ Then if I make a stop against them they’ll say ‘Wow, that was good, but what could I do to get by you?’ So we’re always working as a team.” If a squad isn’t getting along, that can make practices a chore rather than a chance to get better. With that free flowing current of information between the offense and defense, weaknesses become strengths and holes in an individual players’ game can be filled in nicely. Then as each player gets incrementally better, the team as a whole becomes that much more dynamic, that much more dangerous. Schoeb, who’s saving nearly 50 percent of the shots she
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YOU SEE GREAT THINGS GOING ON AND YOU’RE NOT EVEN A PART OF THAT. YOU’RE LIKE ‘WOW, THAT WAS AMAZING. — ANNIE CORY
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faces against a loaded STAB schedule that included a pair of games against nationally-ranked opponents in just a single Saturday morning (STAB went 1-1) is another testament to that philosophy. She was an unknown quantity coming into last season, but her experience as a field hockey goalie, the guidance of assistant coach and former World Cup team goalie Heather Dow, and a lot of her own effort has made her a potential x-factor for the Saints down the stretch this season. “She kind of already had the goalie mentality,” Carden said. “Brittany works so hard and it really has shown this year.” When the Saints are stout defensively, that can allow their dynamic, multi-faceted offense to take control of games that much earlier or pull away and in the second half. In the spirit of that team unity, they’ve become extremely adept at working within the offense to capitalize on whoever is open, whoever has the favorable matchup. Most good lacrosse teams try to do just that, but occasionally slip into periods where the team’s best player tries to make something happen all on their own. With the Saints, there’s no need. “We don’t play for ourselves, we play for each other,” said senior Julia Haney. “We have talent all over the field but yet we’re able gel in a way that makes us that much stronger. Part of our success is coming from all the threats we have all over the field. A team tries to block out so-and-so, but this person will step up and take charge and that makes the defense scramble.” Whether it’s Princeton-bound Haney (82 points including 48 goals), Princeton commit Cory (40 goals), Denver-bound Schreck (29 goals), Denver commit DiGiacomo (21 goals and 10 assists), Speidel (13 goals) from the midfield or future Gardner-Webb player Bryant (10 goals) and Elizabeth Carden (11 assists) on attack, STAB’s opponents essentially have to pick their poison. Other players like Davidson pledge Maddie Hunter (13 ground balls, 10 forced turnovers) and Virginia Tech committment Steppe (team-leading 27 ground balls) have found niches by helping ignite the offense with plays in the midfield. “On past teams if something great happened and you were one of the best players on the team you always had to be involved,” Cory said. “You see great things going on and you’re not even a part of that. You’re like ‘wow, that was amazing, I didn’t even have to do anything for that to happen, that’s great.’” That kind of balance and team chemistry in high school sports almost always starts with a team’s seniors, at least that’s what Mary Blake has found in her years as a head coach, a long tenure where she’s now closing in on 400 career wins at STAB. “I’m a firm believer that the seniors dictate your season anyway, I always have felt that way,” Blake said. “But this group has brought this whole group along. The Julias, the Audreys, the Emilys that brought us from younger up, they raised the bar in practice, they raised the intensity level. (The younger players) now know what it is to be good. They know what it is to work hard.” Speidel and Schreck in particular share a critical bond with STAB lacrosse, having older brothers who recently starred for the school’s boys team. They both wear the numbers of their siblings, with Schreck wearing 18 like her brother Charles, a first team All-Scrimmage Play honoree who played at Delaware and Speidel wearing 21 like her brother Chapin, who went on to a decorated career at Denison University.
“The STAB lacrosse name for us, having seen our brothers start as freshmen and create such a legacy for their team and now having that opportunity and those role models has pushed us so much harder,” Schreck said. And the STAB girls faced a different path than those boys squads. Early in this senior class’ career, the Saints moved up to VISAA’s Division I, which is an entirely different depth in girls lacrosse and includes national powerhouse St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes, nationally-ranked Bishop Ireton and other incredibly talented squads. The Saints had to elevate their game if they wanted to compete at that level, and early on the current seniors made that their mission, and they took a big step in that process earlier this year when they beat Collegiate handily, a squad that edged them time after time in LIS conference play over the past few years. “I think that kind of helped us realize (how good we can be),” Colavincenzo said. “We competed with national teams and that was amazing. It was a confidence booster.” Now the Saints are on the cusp of writing their own legacy. While they’ve strung together several impressive regular seasons, they’ve been upended by Flint Hill the last two years in the VISAA Division I quarterfinals, including last year’s 14-12 upset win by the Huskies at STAB. No matter how it plays out, “I couldn’t imagine playing with any other group,” Speidel said. “We’ve kind of grown up and created this team together. It’s going to be really sad to watch them go different directions because when we’re together we make such a great team.” In the next month, the Saints are about to find out just how great as they walk that precarious knife’s edge. Lucky for the Saints, their unity may make them better equipped than most to navigate it. ✖
TEAM SPOTLIGHT WESTERN GIRLS BASKETBALL The March of Dimes is a charity that does outstanding work to help improve health conditions of exoecting mothers and new born children. Over the last three years, the Western Albemarle girls basketball team has raised more than $15,000 for the non-profit organization during its last three events. Great job Warriors! That is truly amazing work.
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Game Time Albemarle 17, Western Albemarle 12 By Bart Isley
Albemarle’s Garret Smith brings the ball upfield against Western. (Ashley Thornton)
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Albemarle’s boys lacrosse squad was ready to go against Western Albemarle Friday night, and they looked the part in the first half. “We were just really pumped up to play them, at least this whole week, maybe more than that,” said Albemarle’s Ian Davis. “We love playing Western.” The Patriots exploded in the first two quarters and led by seven goals by halftime. While Western strung together a second half run, the Warriors couldn’t dig out and the Patriots snagged a 17-12 victory. Davis helped trigger the offense in the early going, notching two goals and two assists before the break as Albemarle jumped out to an 11-4 lead. It was a big leap forward for the Patriots who re-tooled the entire offense this year. “We’re definitely getting more comfortable with each other, the chemistry is building I think,” Davis said. “It’s taken a little bit of time but we’re finally coming together.” His head coach agreed with Davis’ analysis. “We moved the ball well and we were aggressive and the middies controlled between the restraining lines--all the things you need to do against a good team to get off to that kind of start they did,” said Albemarle’s Dave King. In the second half, Western seemed to wake up and get into gear, closing the gap from nine goals after three quarters to just
four goals with 8:45 to play. But the Warriors couldn’t keep it going as Albemarle’s defense tightened up. “I told the guys at halftime even if we lose this game 100-4, I don’t care as long as you go down swinging,” said Western coach Alex Whitten. “Their want for this game in the first half was far superior to ours you could tell that on loose balls.” Sumner Corbett led the Warriors with three goals and three assists while Clark Sipe also notched a hat trick for Western. Carter Elliot finished with two goals and two assists. Quinn Garland and Justin Moran scored four goals each for the Patriots. Cameron Green and Justin Peck each had two with Peck dishing out an assist. One of Green’s goals was a particularly savvy one as he streaked in and scooped up a rebound and buried it in the back of the cage before drawing a late hit penalty. Kyle Seago finished with nine saves in the cage for the Patriots. Albemarle had to overcome the loss of Nic Chisholm, the team’s regular faceoff man, to pick up the win. Chisholm sustained an injury earlier in the week and may be out for some time, forcing Hunter Johnson into the faceoff role where he was able to hold his own. “He did a great job...he’s not a faceoff guy by trade but he certainly stepped up and tied guys up,” King said. “We’ll keep working on that.” ✖
See a photograph you like? Defensive stand Warriors goalie has more than one trick | By Ryan Yemen
At Scrimmage Play we pride ourselves on offering the best possible graphics Two years ago the Western Albemarle boys to Shin, who doubles as a Junior National Judo soccer team get was fueled its underclassmen medalist, we can our byhands on, in both our but has developed into one of the with sophomores and freshman bearing the area’s most versatile goalkeepers. magazine as well as at our website at brunt of the work load. The netminder has shown he’s capable of Now two years later, forwards Aaron Myers making big saves, particularly in the team’s www.scrimmageplay.com and Alex Nolet, as well as senior defender two ties. In the first game of the season, Tom Rogers are all in their senior seasons and looking to earn a Region II bid, something that Orange County snatched away from them in the Jefferson District semifinals last season. After the first month of play, the Warriors seem to have the defensive side of the equation figured out and junior goalkeeper Kai Shin is a big part of that. Before Western went on its spring break, none of its four opponents were able to score more than once, a testament to the team’s play in the middle of the field, but also a nod
Shin endured wave after wave of Albemarle attack, but stood tall and showed no rust in the 1-1- tie. But while Shin’s on the field because he can make stops, his strong leg has also been of great use as he’s able to easily clear the zone but also spark fast breaks all by himself. The Warriors averaged a little over two goals per contest before the break, but if that average starts to increase, don’t be surprised if it’s because of Shin’s ability to contribute to the transition game. ✖
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Western Albemarle’s Kai Shin hauls in a shot during his team’s 1-1 tie with Albemarle that kicked off the soccer season for both squads. (Frank Crocker)
Success stories begin here.
Success Story: Max Valles Max Valles hails from Sicklerville, New Jersey. He arrived at the University of Virginia in 2013 after spending 2012 in Fork Union playing for coach Mark Shuman’s post graduate team. In high school he was all over the place, playing wide receiver, defensive end and safety. At FUMA he was fine tuned to make the most of his 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame as a linebacker. He also became acclimated with the collegiate style academics that Fork Union offers to prepare students for what lies ahead when they make the leap. Valles took to the water quickly when he arrived at UVa. As a freshman, he played in 10 of the Cavaliers 12 games. But even in the two games he didn’t play in, he made an impact as he played defensive scout as Bringham Young University’s Kyle Van Noy, a second round selection for the Detriot
Lions in the 2014 NFL Draft. In his college debut, Valles broke up a pass against Virginia Millitary Institute. Weeks later he earned a start against Pittsburgh where he amassed five tackles and had 2.5 sacks. After that he had a trio of tackles and a pair of passes defended when Virginia played Ball State. Against Georgia Tech he had five tackles and picked up a fumble. And facing Virginia Tech, Valles had 1.5 sacks, forced a fumble and broke up a pass. As just a sophomore at UVa, Valles’ collegiate career is still very much in development, but he’s already shown he has the tools to be one of the Cavaliers’ most valuable pass rushers on a team with an emerging defense. He was one of 12 freshmen to take the field in 2013 for coach Mike London. In 2014 the outside linebacker looks to have a breakout out year.
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Overtime
Talk tough? Put the jersey on! Taking pride in one’s team means something
M
y four-year old daughter got her first team uniform — and I use that in the loosest sense of the term since we’re talking about a wicking t-shirt here — of any kind from her weekly U7 lacrosse clinic at the end of practice. She absolutely could not have been more excited, she made me carry her stick and pulled it on before we could get to the car. The next morning she informed us she couldn’t wear the UVa T-shirt that she was wearing that day to play lacrosse in because she isn’t on the Cavaliers. “That’s not what my shirt says.” Her shirt gave her an instant sense of belonging. She’d been with that group of kids for a grand total of two hours but that was her team. That was her squad. She had pride. You could hear every ounce of it oozing out whenever she talked about her team and that t-shirt solidified it. I’m not sure how the psychology works or when we develop that sense of tribal allegiance or why a shirt can bring it out. But I know it does. My first jersey was, looking back on it, a kind of absurd one. I played tee-ball, and along with the rest of my teammates wore a bright green t-shirt with the word “Doves” in white letters along the front. Every other team in that league in that small, Eastern North Carolina town was also named after a bird, but they got Blue Jays, Cardinals and Orioles. Why we got the international symbol of peace while everyone else got actual baseball nicknames is beyond me. I assume they simply ran out and were married to the avian theme. I didn’t care, I loved being on the Doves and I didn’t even realize that was a strange name for a team until I told my wife some two decades after the fact and she immediately laughed in my face. My first soccer uniform was a bright gold t-shirt, with our sponsor, Gardener’s Barbecue plastered on the front. The name wasn’t enough though, we had to have the full logo of a smiling pig and chicken on the front so that that pork and chicken boutique could get its money’s worth for shelling out $100 to the league. That’s a peculiarly southern tradition by the way — slapping a happy, cartoon version of the animal you’re slow smoking and eventually eating on the sign as if to indicate how thrilled they are to have been a part of your experience. I still didn’t care. I rocked that awful looking t-shirt with its morally dubious logo anytime my parents let me and I remember explaining to a friend why it was better than his dumb navy Ben’s Automotive Center shirt. A later soccer team, my fifth grade squad, was nicknamed the Roadrunners and we wore purple shirts. My body that screamed “let’s put this kid in at goalie” looked a lot like an eggplant in that purple. Still, I was a roadrunner until I died as far as I was concerned, though that turned out to only be until I joined the Lions the next year. I eventually found that youth sports pride was one thing. In high school, that pride got turned up to 11. You were suddenly representing your entire world. I remember my first
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“When I had that uniform on I could feel a sense of responsibility coursing through my veins.” high school football uniform, an all silver pants and jersey set with a black helmet emblazoned with a script “Cats” on the side. I pulled on high black socks, chose number 55 in tribute to my uncle and wore that uniform with more pride than was reasonable for a junior varsity football game. When I had that uniform on I could feel a sense of responsibility coursing through my veins to represent, even if my mom and dad made up about 50 percent of the crowd. I had pride. Pride matters. Whether it’s your team, your town, your school, your country, who you represent with a uniform matters. It helps you build pride in yourself too, which is a big part of life. If you’re proud of your family, yourself, your job, your role or your organization, it’s going to show. Even a four year old understands that. It’s instinctive. It’s part of who we are. It’s sports. ✖
Bart Isley,
CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR
back talk »
What does the uniform mean to you? Contact Bart at: bart@scrimmageplay.com
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